XBMC + Xubuntu 12.10 + VDPAU working flawlessly [Nvidia ION Media Center]

Xubuntu 12.10 is lightweight, stable, and fast. It's Ubuntu with a turbo slapped on. In this post, we'll go over setting up a XBMC media box with Dolby Digital/DTS out and Chrome with adobe flash over HDMI.

With the newest version of XBMC, the installation was smooth. I did not have to configure the sound output for DD over HDMI--the sound worked immediately after installing XBMC. In my previous blog posts, you'll notice the issues I ran into getting sound to work over HDMI. The only challenges I ran into this time around was getting overscan issues corrected and getting Google Chrome to work with Adobe flash hardware acceleration to which a solution was eventually found. Let's give this a go.

My set up:

Zotac Nvidia ION, Atom N330 Dual Core
2GB DDR RAM
Xubuntu 12.10 x386
XBMC Camelot Beta 1
Western Digital 150 GB Velociraptor

1. Download Xubuntu 12.10 x386 (I chose 32bit because Flash was more stable for me)

2. Either burn it to disk or create a startup USB: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

3. Install Xubuntu and choose login automatically. Then reboot

4. On your HTPC, open up Firefox and go to this blog post

5. Install Nvidia drivers by opening up terminal and copy and paste line by line

Copied from mygeekopinions blog:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

6. Reboot

7. If you have Overscan issues, open terminal and run (more info on nvidia-xconfig):
sudo nvidia-xconfig

This will set up a xorg.conf file located /etc/X11/xorg.conf

For my installation, I used this nvidia-settings to find the right resolution for my TV. You will need to modify this to best fit your TV. (from the pclinuxos forums):

nvidia-settings --assign 0/CurrentMetaMode="DFP-1: 1920x1080 { ViewPortOut=1820x1020+50+30, ViewPortIn=1920x1080 }"

Once you find the optimal settings, do the following to set it permanently:

cd /etc/X11/

sudo apt-get install gedit

sudo gedit xorg.conf

Paste the Option line, in the Section "Screen", between EndSubSection and EndSection

EndSubSection
Option "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1920x1080 { ViewPortOut=1820x1020+50+30, ViewPortIn=1920x1080 }"
EndSection

8. Save & restart

9. Enable VDPAU (from the linuxforums)

sudo apt-get install libvdpau1 vdpau-va-driver

10. Unmute HDMI/spdif

11. Open Firefox and install Flashaid
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/flash-aid/

12. Restart firefox and open Flashaid and choose Adobe Stable 32 from the repo

Under tweaking options, place a checkmark next to Override GPU Validation and Enable Linux HWDecode

Follow the instructions, and once complete, restart Firefox

13. Install XBMC
http://www.noobslab.com/2012/11/install-xbmc-media-center-120-beta-1-in.html

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc

14. Install Amazon Prime Video addon via HowtoGeek

http://www.howtogeek.com/113491/how-to-get-hulu-and-amazon-video-on-xbmc/

15. Go to Xubuntu Settings Manager
Then Window Manager Tweaks
Go to the Compositor tab and uncheck Enable display compositing

16. Install Chrome
* Go to: http://about:plugins
* Click on the + Details to expand details
* Disable all versions of flash except for Version:11.2 r202
* Restart Chrome
* Confirm flash hardware acceleration is on by playing a video, right click, and Show Video Info
* Accelerated video rendering, accelerated video decoding should be displayed

Zotac Nvidia ION N330 Custom Aluminum Case: HTPC Build Photos

Tutorial: Nvidia ION N330 + XBMC + VDPAU + 1080P w/sound over HDMI

Alright guys and gals, I got around to updating my HTPC box over Thanksgiving weekend, and I can now say that the beta XBMC build looks mighty sexy when displayed in 1080P resolution. Also, DD, DTS passthrough, and Nav sounds are working 100% as well, including system sounds and Youtube in Firefox.

From reading the comments, in my previous post, it looks like the boxee instructions may not have worked 100% for some of you, my apologies, so I went ahead and did a fresh install to create new XBMC specific instructions for the following system:

Zotac Nvidia ION, Atom N330 Dual Core

2GB DDR RAM

Ubuntu 9.10 karmic

XBMC Camelot Beta 1

Western Digital 150 GB Velociraptor

This will get you the 185 NVIDIA graphics drivers:
From what I read online, it looks like the newer 190 drivers may break HDMI sound? I'm using 185, and sound/graphics work beautifully.

Update Dec. 2nd, 2009: I'm now using 190.42 drivers without problems. Tested sound and video. Haven't tested passthrough on the 190.42 yet.

Update Dec. 3rd, 2009: Passthrough is working great. Suspend problems though with the 190.42 drivers. Ubuntu goes into suspend okay but no graphics or response upon resume.

Add these repositories to your sources:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/nvidia-vdpau/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/nvidia-vdpau/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

Open up a terminal:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 71609D4D2F1518FA9C5DC0FB1DABDBB4CEC06767

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic nvidia-glx-185

sudo reboot

Upon Rebooting go into the BIOS.

(the following instruction is from my memory, so if you dont' find it there, it's somewhere in your BIOS) In your BIOS, go to Southbridge configuration and change the video RAM from 256MB to 512MB. Inside the Southbridge config, change Audio codec to Internal only.

This will get you sound/passthrough over HDMI:

(haven't tested coax or optical)

Boot into Ubuntu, and open up a terminal and type:

sudo gedit /etc/asoundrc.conf

Paste the following into that file:

pcm.dmixer {

type dmix

ipc_key 1024

ipc_key_add_uid false

ipc_perm 0660

slave {

pcm "hw:0,3"

rate 48000

channels 2

period_time 0

period_size 1024

buffer_time 0

buffer_size 4096

}

}




pcm.!default {

type plug

slave.pcm "dmixer"

}

Open up another terminal (this will enable Youtube, and XBMC system sounds):
Type in: alsamixer
Make sure that IEC958 is unmuted by pressing the letter "m" without quotes.
If it it muted, then it will look like this - Item: IEC958 [off]
Once you unmute it, then it will look like this - Item: IEC958

Thanks to Greenhughes.com for the alsamixer tip.

Save. Close it. Reboot.

Inside XBMC:

Go to Settings, Audio and change the following:

Instead of:

sound: Internal Codec HDMI

passthrough: ie958

Change to custom (type hdmi):
sound: hdmi
passthrough: hdmi

Now you will have HD video and sound in Ubuntu and XBMC from your HD videos all the way to SD youtube, hulu, or whatever you want to play. Now go have fun!

Tutorial: Zotac ION N330 + Boxee/XBMC + VDPAU + 1080P w/sound over HDMI

*Update 12/01/09 - Instructions For BOXEE ONLY. Please refer to this post for XBMC.*

This post will get you video and audio over HDMI including audio passthrough for Dolby Digital or DTS. Feel free to skip down to the good stuff ; ).

The Zotac N330 is a dual core Atom CPU with an Nvidia ION GPU inside a tiny 7.5"x7.5" form factor. What's really amazing though is that when these two little chips are put together they are capable of playing 1080P HD content without even breaking a sweat. Through VDPAU for Linux, or Direct X 10 for Windows, content traditionally sent to the CPU is now sent to the ION to decode. This means for users like us, this opens the door to media, games, and powerful computing in a small, well priced, and low power consuming computer. Emphasis on powerful and well priced.

I ordered my board on Amazon w/free shipping for $190 including a 19V power supply--I assumed it would be a 12V power supply. After completing the installation, when playing 720P movies, my CPU usage was less than 6% per core! From what I've read, 1080P does NOT utilize the CPU core all that much either.

FYI: For those worried about getting an older board: the older revision of this board had a USB suspend problem, but now all the boards being sold have been fixed with an added jumper.

Here are my system specs:

Zotac N330

1GB DDR RAM

4GB OCZ Rally2 USB stick w/Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid installed

Boxee w/latest build

These instructions are interchangeable with XBMC. Boxee is built on XBMC, so some of the references will look similar.

This will get you the latest NVIDIA graphics drivers:

Add these repositories to your sources:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/nvidia-vdpau/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/nvidia-vdpau/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main

Open up a terminal:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 71609D4D2F1518FA9C5DC0FB1DABDBB4CEC06767
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic nvidia-glx-185
sudo reboot

Upon Rebooting go into the BIOS.

(the following instruction is from my memory, so if you dont' find it there, it's somewhere in your BIOS) In your BIOS, go to Southbridge configuration and change the video RAM from 256MB to 512MB. Inside the Southbridge config, change Audio codec to Internal only.

Go into boxee, Settings, Video:

Turn on accelerate videos when posssible to enable VDPAU.

Exit boxee.

This will get you sound over HDMI:

(not sure about coax or optical)

Boot into Ubuntu, and open up a terminal and type:

sudo gedit ~/.asoundrc

Paste the following into that file:

pcm.dmixer {
type dmix
ipc_key 1024
ipc_key_add_uid false
ipc_perm 0660
slave {
pcm "hw:0,3"
rate 48000
channels 2
period_time 0
period_size 1024
buffer_time 0
buffer_size 4096
}
}

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "dmixer"
}

Open up another terminal (this will enable Youtube, and XBMC system sounds):
Type in: alsamixer
Make sure that IEC958 is unmuted by pressing the letter "m" without quotes.
If it it muted, then it will look like this - Item: IEC958 [off]
Once you unmute it, then it will look like this - Item: IEC958

Save. Close it. Reboot.

Inside Boxee:

Go to Settings, System, Audio and change the following:

Instead of:

sound: ie958

passthrough: ie958

Change to (type default to where ie958 is):
sound: default
passthrough: default

Now you will have HD video and sound in Ubuntu to Boxee from your HD videos all the way to youtube, hulu, or whatever you want to play. Now go have fun!